Welcome to The Receipt, a series documenting how Bon Appétit readers eat and what they spend doing it. Each food diary follows one anonymous reader’s week of expenses related to groceries, restaurant meals, coffee runs, and every bite in between. In this time of rising food costs, The Receipt reveals how folks—from different cities, with different incomes, on different schedules—are figuring out their food budgets.
In today’s Receipt, a 26-year-old pastor makes $27,000 a year in Huntsville, Alabama. Her husband makes $120,000, totalling their household income to $147,000. Keep reading for their receipts.
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The finances
What are your pronouns? She/her/hers
What is your occupation? Pastor
How old are you? 26
What city and state do you live in? Huntsville, Alabama
What is your annual salary, if you have one? I make $27,000 a year. My husband makes $120,000 as an engineer, making our total income $147,000 before taxes, 401K, and health insurance taken from my husband’s paycheck for me.
How much is one paycheck, after taxes? $2,333.33 a month
How often are you paid? Monthly
How much money do you have in savings? $30,000 in savings, $75,000 in 401K
What are your approximate fixed monthly expenses beyond food? (i.e., rent, subscriptions, bills)
- Total: $3,322.28 to $3,392.28
- Mortgage: $2,272.01
- Utilities: $230 to $300, most recently a whopping $400 due to an ice storm
- Cell phone: $45
- Internet: $71.40
- Car insurance: $234.87
- Media subscriptions (New York Times, Spotify, streaming): $80
- Charitable gifts, Patreon: $300
- Yoga: $89
The diet
Do you follow a certain diet or have dietary restrictions? We don’t have any restrictions.
What are the grocery staples you always buy, if any? We always buy eggs, milk, butter, bananas, green grapes, and salad greens when my garden doesn’t have them. We always restock on onions, lemons, limes, garlic, russet potatoes, and ginger.
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home? Generally, I eat out for lunch one to two times a week, and we go out for other meals two to three times a week at most. I try to cook three meals a week that we then eat leftovers from. I used to cook a fresh meal every single night because I couldn’t stand leftovers. Now I cook things that hold up better or can be transformed a bit so I can have more time in the evenings to work in my garden and on other hobbies.
How often in a week did you dine out while growing up? My family very rarely ate out. Maybe once or twice a month, usually on Sunday after church. I have several siblings and my mom was a stay-at-home mom, so we lived on my dad’s income as a small business owner. We always went to places like Texas Roadhouse or a local barbecue joint.
How often in a week did your parents or guardians cook at home? We cooked almost every meal. We joke that we are not a cereal family—hot breakfast was a must every day. Even if it was cheese on toast. My dad loves to cook and owns a seafood market, so we had all kinds of great meals at home and dinner guests all the time. As the oldest I ended up learning how to cook and helping out a ton. My family suffered through many a horrible meal as I learned.
The expenses
- Week’s total: $380.13
- Restaurants and cafés total: $99.98
- Groceries total: $280.15
- Most-expensive meal or purchase: $39.79, brunch at Le Petit Bijou
- Least-expensive meal or purchase: $0.49, avocado from Aldi
- Number of restaurant and café meals: 6
- Number of grocery trips: 7
The diary
10 a.m. Mondays are days I can afford to have a slow start, so I do. After taking last week off because of a medical procedure, I went to a yoga class and boy howdy, the body had words for me. It’s always so hard to get back into it.
I decide to get one of my favorite fast-food breakfasts. The Chick-fil-A line is shockingly short. I think Chick-fil-A’s iced coffee is a real sleeper. It is one of my favorites in terms of fast-food coffee and usually it is not too sweet for me. I try to wait until I get home to eat, but instead I have a fruit cup at traffic lights, and once parked in my driveway I can’t resist having that most heavenly of sensory experiences: eating a biscuit and drinking the coffee right then and there in the car. It was amazing. ($11.26 total)
1 p.m. I go into the office to upload my church’s weekly worship YouTube video and send it out to the congregation. I lose track of time and realize it’s past my ideal lunch time, so I zoom home to eat the last of some truly excellent chicken noodle soup I made last week. It has been raining absolutely all day and this soup is everything to me. I pair it with a slice of homemade honey wheat bread (previously made) liberally slathered with butter and flaky salt.
My neighbors left me an entire five-gallon bucket of whole wheat flour when they moved and I have been trying out recipes that are 100% whole wheat to work my way through it faster. This one is dense and too sweet for me, but still amazing. Bread is bread. The cats are begging for me to give them something off my plate, and I give in and let them lick the sides of my soup bowl when I’m done.
2:30 p.m. I got new windshield wipers, and being the confident strong independent woman I am, I thought I could install them myself. I stand out in the drizzle for a bit too long before texting my retired car mechanic neighbor that I need help. Before he arrives, I shove a handful of dark chocolate almond trail mix into my mouth for some afternoon sustenance.
4:30 p.m. I’ve been feeling snacky. Last week I bought Cuties mandarins and accidentally got the three-pound bag. I’ve told my husband that it is our mission to eat them all before they get too soft or dry out and we’ve been going ham on them.
The last time my mom visited, she also made some of those Bisquick cheese sausage balls and froze them. I remember we have them and throw them in the air fryer. Paired with a Cutie, they fill me up enough before I head to my weekly grocery trip to Aldi. I try to go to the grocery store full, especially at Aldi where novelty products in that weird unexplainable aisle at the front catch my eye every week.
At Aldi I stock up for the week on vegetables (green beans, red onions, brussels sprouts, peppers), deli meat, chicken breasts, potstickers, 2% milk, eggs, butter, cream cheese—a bit of everything. I also get a charcuterie snack and Choceur chocolate. ($110.23 total)
6:30 p.m. After we unload the groceries, I take a few minutes in my cold dark room for some Instagram Reels time. I have a headache that won’t go away. Then I accidentally stay in bed for an hour and text my husband that I need some help with dinner prep/getting out of bed. He fires up the speaker with my favorite music, puts on an apron, and starts responding “yes, chef” to every request I ask of him.
We’re having Panang curry tonight—or at least some resemblance of Panang curry. I slice an onion, bell peppers ($2.69, Aldi), and chicken breast ($7.92, Aldi) into thin strips. I also crush some peanuts. My husband starts up the rice cooker with some basmati rice. I open up a can of coconut milk and skim the fat off the top. Into my trusty Lodge blue Dutch oven it goes, along with some red curry paste and the onions. After I let those simmer and build some flavor, I add in the peanuts, the rest of the coconut milk and the sliced chicken, stir, throw on the lid, and let the chicken poach.
My husband and I decide while we wait that it’s a good time to do some fridge cleanout, which mostly means him looking at expiration dates that I claim are “fine to keep” and throwing them out because he does not believe in my system of food safety. We find some real gems in the back of the fridge including two bottles of ginger beer, two different brands of fig jam, and Castelvetrano olives. When we’re done, I add the bell peppers to simmer for a few minutes. Then lime juice and zest ($2.45, Aldi), fish sauce, and sugar, and we have an excellent dinner on our hands. We’ll definitely have this meal as leftovers with fresh rice for a few days.
After dinner, we each eat a mini ice cream pop ($4.49, Aldi) while we finish off the new Percy Jackson show. I don’t like the white chocolate ones, so my husband eats them while I get the dark chocolate almond ones all to myself.
8:30 a.m. I meant to get up earlier today. I am supposed to be at work for office hours by 9 a.m., but today it won’t happen. Lucky for me, the people aren’t busting down my office doors so I get in lots of admin work instead.
I really try to get in protein with breakfast every day because I know I will be starving by lunch without it, so today I make a yogurt bowl with full fat whole milk Greek yogurt, honey, protein granola, blackberries ($1.49, Aldi), and blueberries ($2.89, Aldi). I beg the kettle to heat faster so I can get out the door, and then I make our morning Chemex with some terrible emergency-only coffee beans from the back of the cabinet. We are out of good coffee and our local guy delivers our order on Friday. I throw it in my tumbler and rush out the door.
12:40 p.m. I let myself get too hungry. I got caught up talking to a congregant at office hours so I didn’t have as much time to work on sermon prep, and now it’s lunchtime. I head home, rush through the door toward the fridge, and find my husband working on his daily sandwich. Earlier, he made a trip to Star Super Market to pick up a few items such as corn tortillas and Boar’s Head smoked ham. ($25.91 total)
I am a gremlin when I am hungry, so I’m a little snappy with him as I prepare my snack plate: olives, grapes ($5.99, Aldi), carrot sticks, crème de brie ($3.99, Aldi), store-brand woven wheat crackers ($2.39, Aldi), prosciutto ($3.49, Aldi), sea salt chocolate ($1.19, Aldi), and a blackberry seltzer ($3.75, Aldi) with a splash of kombucha ($3.69, Aldi). At the table, one of my cats sits across from me like a little person peeping her head over the edge, waiting for me to give her something. You will be happy to note, reader, that I do not give her anything because I am mostly a good cat parent and I know human food is not good for her.
3 p.m. My husband and I crowd around a truly giant bowl of salsa verde I made last week from green tomatoes from our garden. We pair it with chips ($2.79, Star Super Market).
5 p.m. I’m working in the yard and text my husband to bring me a glass of powdered Gatorade because I don’t want to track mud inside.
5:45 p.m. I start making dinner. I wasn’t going to make dinner tonight, but with Ash Wednesday tomorrow, I know I’ll be tied up all day with various responsibilities. I pull out the trusty blue Dutch oven and find some uncured bacon ends in the freezer from a local farm that went out of business. This is the last treasured packet of acorn-finished bacon from the farm, so I use it in one of my favorite recipes, bacon-y black bean tostadas. I think it’s originally a Rick Martinez recipe, and over the years I've adapted it and cooked with my heart. It was the first meal I ever cooked for my husband when we were dating so it feels nostalgic during Valentine’s week.
Into the bacon grease go onions, garlic ($1.39, Aldi), and some spices along with half a can of chilis in adobo. After I let those simmer, I add the black beans ($0.99, Aldi), immersion blend it, and reduce. I fry my own tostadas because I just don’t love how they come out in the oven or air fryer, so I get to have a chef’s snack trying one out to make sure it’s crispy. I assemble the tostada: black beans, cilantro ($0.95, Aldi), feta, and bacon bits, make myself another seltzer with a splash of kombucha, and eat. I finish the meal with two green tea ice cream mochi ($4.69, Aldi), very cooling after a warming spicy dish.
8 p.m. Very exciting and unexpected: Our local coffee roaster Coffee Break has dropped off the beans early! Usually they deliver on Fridays so this is a real treat. We now have a Columbia roast and a Costa Rica roast ($15.20 each, $32.84 total).
7:45 a.m. I throw a bagel from our local bagel bakery Canadian Bakin into the toaster and slather it with cream cheese. I made some cold brew a few days ago so I don’t get to enjoy the new brews yet. I throw everything into a tumbler and run out the door to make it to an 8 a.m. appointment. As quick breakfasts go, this one is pretty good. The bagel is a bit stale because we had to stop using the bread box—the cats figured out how to open it and ate a bunch of bagels. I beg my car to defrost faster, but I end up late to my appointment.
9:20 a.m. After my appointment I zoom over to one of the churches I work for to get some drive-through ashes for Ash Wednesday from the lead pastor. I receive ashes in the shape of a cross on my forehead, a reminder of my own mortality. I also receive a bag of Hershey’s Kisses with a copy of the prayer of St. Brigid. Lent is officially beginning and I am certainly not giving up chocolate. Today is a busy day and I’m glad for a little treat to get going.
12 p.m. I stop on my way to the church to grab my go-to quick and cheap lunch, a wonton soup and spring rolls from New China Restaurant, a Chinese place near work ($5.94 total). I relish the fatty broth and the wontons full of mystery meat. This is a lunch I get every other week or so, and I believe I've written some of my best sermons after eating it. Those greasy crispy noodles topping the soup are the best part; the crispy-gone-soggy texture remains one of my favorite things.
3:30 p.m. I feel like in Valentine’s years past I haven’t gotten a huge heart-shaped box of chocolates, but I can’t say I’m upset. My husband and I crossed paths this afternoon, me between Ash Wednesday services and him working from home, and he gave me a box of Russell Stover chocolates. Honestly, as cliche as these little things are, they feel decadent and special, and carry emotional weight. I eat three chocolates before a brief crash/lie in a dark room before I finish prep and leave for tonight’s Ash Wednesday service.
7:45 p.m. I heat up Panang curry leftovers and we make a fresh batch of basmati rice. I am so hungry. The curry is a perfect warming meal after a long day—and before another long day, as I have sermon prep to catch up on. I of course have another chocolate after dinner because it’s Valentine’s day, and my husband and I discuss our plan for our romantic home-cooked meal tomorrow.
8:15 a.m. I have been shockingly productive this morning. I went to a 6 a.m. yoga class and swung by our neighborhood grocery to find the meat department wasn’t yet open. I want to try a braised short rib because I need something fabulous and relatively hands off for our Valentine’s dinner. I swing by Publix instead, grabbing the probably too expensive short ribs ($17.36) and some other staples. ($48.86 total)
At home I make an avocado toast ($0.49, Aldi) on white mountain bread ($3.99, Publix) with a big fat butter-fried egg on top ($1.91, Aldi). I also chop the entire mirepoix for the braise (celery, $1.89; carrots, $2.49; onions, $0.96; all Publix), make an iced coffee, and watch the birds and the cats watching the birds from my kitchen table nook. Life is good. I’ve got a lot on the agenda today including finishing my sermon, painting the dining room, going by the wine shop, and making short ribs—but I am up for it and full of energy.
12:30 p.m. I make a snack plate for lunch again. Crème de brie, prosciutto, carrot sticks, grapes, olives, and fig jam with woven wheat crackers. A balanced but fun meal I get to share with my husband over his daily sandwich. Afterward we head to the wine shop The Wine Cellar to pick up a Pinot Noir ($32.70) and our favorite French bakery L'Etoile Patisserie for some pastries ($18.17 total).
2 p.m. Iced coffee o’clock. I need a little pick me up after getting up for my early yoga class so I make an iced coffee with homemade cold brew, simple syrup, vanilla extract, and half and half. I am revived. I start the short rib braising process by browning them and sautéing my mirepoix in the fat. I add tomato paste ($2.29, Publix), toast it, and then add an entire bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon ($9.89, Publix) and beef stock ($2.50, Publix), and throw my big blue Dutch oven into the oven, set at 275 degrees.
6:30 p.m. I had a busy afternoon so I’m glad to not have to do tons of prep for a pretty decadent dinner. I start working on mashed potatoes and throw some green beans in the air fryer. They would probably be better sautéed but I am lazy tonight. I pull out the braised short ribs, remove the ribs, strain out the veggies, and reduce the braising liquid until it’s this creamy, dreamy dark sauce.
I add back in the short ribs to heat them and combine with sauce, and then I plate them on top of a bed of pillowy mashed potatoes and green beans, and top with a mix of chopped chives ($2.00, Publix), lemon zest ($1.78, Publix), and parsley from my garden. This Valentine’s meal is one of the most decadent things I’ve made in forever. We enjoy it with the Pinot Noir and for dessert we split a mini chocolate gateau ($4.25, L’Etoile) and have a choux pastry each ($7.00 each, L’Etoile). We eat by candlelight and get to sit down and really connect over this meal. The cats, per the usual, beg to try the short ribs. They do not get to lick any plates tonight.
7:00 a.m. I have Fridays off, but today I’m working on some home organization and decor with a dear friend who is a designer and home organization professional. Beforehand, I make whole wheat blueberry muffins. I haven’t made blueberry muffins since I worked at a bakery and regularly made a hundred pounds of muffin batter at a time. These ones turn out amazing—topped with sugar in the raw. I make a pour-over with Coffee Break coffee and have a little cup before my friend arrives.
8:30 a.m. My friend is here, and we drink more coffee out of my grandmother’s china and make a game plan for tackling the insanity that is my kitchen cabinets.
12:30 p.m. Everything I own is out of the cabinets and it is overstimulating. No surface is clear, no cabinet is safe from the wrath of this woman. My addiction to purchasing dry goods without a real use for them is on full display. I did not sleep well. I’m exhausted. My husband is working from home and when I ask everyone if they want tenders, the answer is a resounding, “YES, PLEASE.”
I run out and grab chicken tender meals for everyone from Tenders. I can’t wait, so I eat my meal in the car. This place is a local chain and it is so good. I know my digestive system is not going to be happy later, but right now a crispy hot chicken tender in Tenders’s proprietary sauce is exactly what I need to fuel the rest of this home organization situation. ($27.64 total)
7 p.m. I took a nap at some point and realized afterward that it was time to go to my husband’s improv show. The theatre, Shenanigans Comedy Theatre, has the best snacks. It’s one of the places that best supports the arts and LGBT folks in our community, so I justify getting mozzarella sticks for dinner as supporting the arts. Watching my husband perform, I eat my mozz sticks ($5) and mango White Claw ($4.50). He isn't in the whole show so we eventually get to sit together and share his free popcorn. Mozz sticks and popcorn for dinner is a bold move. I now know with certainty my digestive system is not going to love me tomorrow. ($11.36 total)
9 p.m. My husband asks if I want Dairy Queen. The answer to this question is never no, but again—the digestive system is already rumbling. I ask for the world’s smallest Oreo Blizzard ($3.99) and he delivers. I eat it in our bed while we talk about the performance. No regrets.
8 a.m. This week has been very busy and my sermon is not done yet (whoopsie), which is unusual for me. I should have worked on it yesterday, but I didn’t have time with the house org, so I find myself working on my sermon over a cup of English breakfast tea. I eat a muffin and wait for my husband to get up so we can get brunch somewhere.
9:30 a.m. I can already tell he’s gonna want to sleep until 11. Why not? It’s the weekend. I make a cold brew and use our frother to make some cold foam with vanilla extract, simple syrup, and sea salt sprinkled in. Having a fun drink really helps me be a better sermon writer.
12 p.m. We go to one of our favorite places downtown for lunch, Le Petit Bijou, and it has a whole tantalizing brunch menu. My sandwich has ham, scrambled eggs, butter, Fontina cheese, and fig jam on a Cuban roll. Holy moly. I do think I like the restaurant’s classic butter ham better than the breakfast version, but this certainly isn’t much of a downgrade. I get a Caesar salad on the side, and it is salty, creamy, crunchy perfection. ($39.79 total)
Afterward, we visit a couple shops including The Kaffeeklatsch, a coffee roaster we’ve been wanting to try. The aroma is intoxicating and we purchase a half pound of an Ethiopian dark roast. ($11.44)
5:30 p.m. For dinner I’m making a lentil and bean thing in the Instant Pot. It’s inspired by a dal makhani recipe I made a while back, but I don’t have everything for it and do not have the time that dish took. This is heart cooking—not measurable, maybe not even repeatable. I blend it up with the immersion blender and put it over rice. I’m on a time constraint because my husband has another improv show that I do not attend. After we eat, I let it simmer and reduce it a bit because I feel like the flavor isn’t as deep as it could be. It’s kind of just an easy pantry meal after the past few decadent and digestively questionable choices on my part. It serves us well.
7 a.m. I make a quick peanut butter banana toast and drizzle with honey. After scarfing it down I head to the church to prepare myself for morning worship. I usually eat just a protein bar because I'm running out the door on Sundays. This meal is a nice change. Sundays can be a really exhausting day—the public speaking is really tiring, even if I don’t usually have nerves. It just takes it out of me.
10 a.m. It is coffee and donut time before we head to Sunday school. I relish my regular ol’ plain doughnut (free) and my terrible Folgers church coffee (free). My congregants are mostly older folks and they have a legal pad acting as a sign-up sheet for making the coffee each week. Many times they set it up the day before so it will be easier to have on Sunday mornings. Even though the coffee itself is pretty bad, this is some of my favorite time all week. I love listening to my congregants’ everyday going ons. I look at pictures of a house that someone’s daughter is closing on, I listen to someone speak of the hardships of being a caretaker, I hug, I shake hands, I hold my warm cup of coffee close. I relish it all.
12:30 p.m. I make a quick quesadilla with leftover beans, cheese, and roti from the Indian grocery (previously purchased) because we ran out of flour tortillas. I dip the quesadilla in sour cream and homemade salsa I canned this summer with veg from the garden. I am not really sure how or why, but the beans are much less spicy after a few days in the fridge, which is great. Generally if my husband thinks something is spiced perfectly, it’s just ever so slightly too spicy for me, but I grin and bear it, hoping my meager spice tolerance will improve. I pair the quesadilla with a seltzer and a YouTube video about gardening and settle into a cozy afternoon.
3 p.m. These woven wheat crackers are so good. I have a handful while doing a big under-the-stairs closet cleanout.
6 p.m. Yesterday’s lentils have significantly improved. The slow simmer and reduction have changed them from a hasty, easy pantry meal to something fabulous. Whereas yesterday I viewed them as just fuel, today they are real food. I top them with cilantro ($0.95, Aldi) and lime ($2.45, Aldi). After dinner I have an Aldi ice cream bar that is great as per usual. Time to do some skin care and get myself ready for a new week. Mama, we made it.